[Reshare] A really nice synopsis of why G+ is great for you & your Business

Here's one of my current favorite hobbies: I sit down with potential clients, toss out a reference to Google+ and wait for the inevitable reply--that “it’s never going to make it” or “we don’t believe in it.”

Then I slowly shake my head, take a breath, and reveal what Google isn’t telling you about the importance of their social push.

1. It’s not a social network.

You read that correctly. Yes, the inside of Google+ looks like Facebook--with a newsfeed, Circles that look like groups, and photo sharing. With the network effect that Facebook enjoys, however, Google+ will never be a major threat to it. That doesn’t matter.

Google+ as a social network was a Trojan horse to introduce the “+1 Button,” and that matters a great deal, because we are seeing it everywhere from organic and paid listings to blog posts, product listings and YouTube videos. And every time that +1 Button is clicked, it feeds Google’s advertising engine, allowing them to match more targeted ads to you and everyone connected with you through your Google account.

More data means better targeting, which in turn makes Google more money. Brilliant.

Here’s how: Mike clicks a +1 button, essentially indicating a “social endorsement” of a particular product or site. Later, Jim, who is a Gmail contact of Mike's, does a search and that site shows up, it shows up with a picture of Mike under that listing and his “endorsement” of the search result.

This has a triple-whammy positive effect:

The site gets more visitors because people are more likely to click.They are more likely to buy or convert because of the endorsementThe site thus gets a higher than expected click-through rate for its given ranking, which Google then uses as a factor in awarding higher rankings.The more users who are in your “+1 ecosystem,” the larger this positive effect on traffic, conversion rate and rankings. Wow. If you want, you can stop reading right now and go add the +1 button to your site.

3. Active Google+ users dominate search results.

I am probably like a lot of Google+ users; I set up an account a while back, added a limited number of colleagues, friends, and companies ... and then didn’t do much else. However, I use Google dozens of times a day. That means the users or companies that I did add to my Circles have had a major--even absurdly so--impact on my search results ever since Google introduced “Search + Your World.”

In a sense, it is the very mediocrity of Google+ adoption that creates the opportunity for your business to get a payoff from using it.

Blogger Robert Scoble, who is very active on Google+ and one of the few people I put into my Circles, is everywhere for me on Google--from posts, items he has liked and even his tagged photos. It’s social overload--and, in my opinion, not delivering the best experience. But on the flip side, if you are active on Google+ you can be the “Robert Scoble” of your audience, and affect its experience in a way that benefits your business goals.

4. Google+ is great for reputation management.

Nearly every company has some negative review, blog or article online that they would just love to get rid of, usually with no success. But if you have a comprehensive Google+ listing, you can almost certainly get a top spot under searches for your company. That's something that you control, is positive, and will push those pesky negative posts farther down the search results page.

It’s the same reason that having a presence on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Linked in is great: You want to control as much real estate as possible for current or potential clients looking for your company.

5. Google+ gives you more real estate.

Although Google+ takes many common features from Facebook, one of the positive differences is that Google+ posts are naturally longer format. Twitter limits your character length to just 140 characters, and in Facebook it is a posting faux pas to post much more than a sentence.

Google+, however, provides a venue that's more like a blog; it's more common there to see full-length posts. And the more content you feed Google, the more it can index and produce in search results--helping your visibility, traffic, and SEO.

6. Google+ isn't about to disappear.

As a closing note, it is important to know that unlike the short-lived failures of Google Buzz, Wave or Orkut--kudos if you even remember all three--your investment of time and effort in Google+ and +1 is much more likely to pay off. Google has invested heavily in Google+, integrated it across all of its properties, and set the tone for this decade to be the Decade of Social--a battle that it is not going to bow out of any time soon.

Thanks, +John Kellden re: 'claim the value.' I love it too, because it really points to the fact that understanding authorship is crucial to improving SERPs, and eventually for getting back to more monetizable content strategies.

+Rajini Rao I agree. I do sometimes paste a key quote from the article which I find to be especially sharp. But, I also like to add my own thoughts in my post. I feel it's more valuable to a reader to read what you actually think of something. It helps start a conversation, and brings value to the stream.

Good observation, +Sean Grace . I did not realize that the OP had pasted the article in its entirety. I really do dislike that, it borders on plagiarism IMO since the text was not in quotes or italics (I confess, I did not click on the link until your comment). Not that I like the italicized plunking of the lead paragraph either (that seems to be so popular on G+). Seems kind of lazy to me. What does the poster bring to the conversation in that case?

+Jeff Jockisch Great thoughts on the +1 button here. Two things: First, I'm curious how everyone else uses the +1 (outside of G+). I use it to say that I've read/viewed something, not that I approve/enjoy/recommend it. I'm kind of just leaving my tracks on the internet. Maybe I need to rethink this if everyone else is assuming that I +1ed it because I thought it was particularly helpful. If that was the case, I would have shared it.

Also, I didn't click on the article itself because it was all pasted in the text. So, they missed out on a +1 on their actual page and just got it here instead. That is not nearly as helpful. I think it wise to put in a bit of text in the post, but encourage readers to click through to the link for the full story.

If it does become a reputation platform, I'd consider moving some more of our professional activities here. It's still a bit early for that..I see some professional (science/research) organizations languishing on G+ at the present.

+Rajini Rao I think you can bet on it :) I think G+ is a way to claim the value of your contributions on the web, And as it evolves from identity platform to reputation platform, it rewards your ability to create a following in both the real and virtual world.